Fortune in the Stars
by RussetDivinity
Summary: The Beatrice sank, but the Baudelaires were not aboard. They had been rescued by a madman in an impossible box, and they were about to learn that their world was not the only one with secrets.
1. The Doctor

Waves crashed over the prow of the _Beatrice_, making the deck slick with water. Violet raced between the masts, doing her best to secure the sails. Her mind was racing, trying to invent ways to better fix the sails to their masts or to pump water out of the ship faster or even to keep her footing on the slippery deck, but she had neither the time nor the materials to make anything. All she could do was work with what she had, and that wasn't anywhere near enough.

"Klaus!" she called, hoping he could hear her voice over the roaring of the wind. "Have we got any leaks?"

"I can't find them," her brother said, stumbling up from belowdecks. His glasses were speckled with rain, and his dark hair was plastered to his head. "I know they're there, but I can't find them, and we wouldn't be able to patch them up anyway…" His voice was rising, and he looked nearly frantic. "I know I could fix them, if I had the right materials. I've studied…"

"It's all right." She set a hand on her brother's shoulder, but only for a second. There wasn't enough time to comfort him any more than that. "There's nothing I can do, either." The words seemed to sting in her throat. There had been a few times when she remembered feeling helpless, and now she had not only Sunny but Beatrice to protect. The thought of the two girls huddled belowdecks spurred her into action, and she raced to the helm. Perhaps if she could steer their ship away from the worst waves they could reach calm water.

"Violet? What are you doing?" Klaus stumbled after her, catching himself on a mast before the pitching of their ship could send him overboard.

"I don't know!" she shouted. Her hair clung to her skin, soaking wet and salty. She had lost her ribbon sometime during the storm, and a lock of her hair was close enough to her eyes to be distracting. "Something!"

"We have to get into the dinghy." Klaus had reached her side by now and took her arm. "The _Beatrice _won't last much longer."

He was right, and Violet reluctantly released the helm. "I'll get food and water ready. You get the girls." She turned and raced aft to prepare their boat for sailing. In the flashes of lightning, she could see land. They could make for the shore and travel from there.

Beside the dinghy was a dumbwaiter connected to their food and water supplies. Violet had rigged it so that a fresh crate or barrel would roll onto the platform whenever it was lowered empty, so the only work she had to do was with the pulley. Heaving supplies up whenever they needed to eat had made her strong and callused her hands against rope burn, so she barely hesitated before hauling on the rope and heaving as much as she could fit into the little boat. She left just enough room for the four of them and the oars. In the meantime, their ship had sunk even further into the water, and cold waves lapped at her ankles.

Klaus and the girls were nowhere to be seen.

"Klaus!" she called. "Sunny! Beatrice!"

There was no answer, and when she ran to the hatch she saw only water rising from below. Klaus might still appear, and maybe Sunny was able to hold her breath long enough, but Beatrice was too young. Violet's knees gave way, and she dropped to the deck, propping herself up only with her hands, staring down into the dark water but seeing nothing.

"No," she whispered. "No."

She couldn't have lost them now, not after everything they had gone through together. They had survived Olaf more times than she cared to count, and now she was going to drown, far from any of her few surviving friends.

A sob caught in her throat, and a few warm tears rolled down her cheeks, mixing with the seawater already there. There was no time to grieve, though, for barely a second later she heard a strange and somehow beautiful creaking, groaning sound. Too curious to be frightened, she turned and saw a blue police box appear behind her. One of the doors opened, and a man's head popped out.

"Violet?" he asked. "Violet Baudelaire?"

* * *

The water belowdecks was up to Klaus's knees and rising rapidly. He sloshed through it to the little room the four siblings shared, calling for Sunny and Beatrice. He knew Sunny could take care of herself, but Beatrice was only a year old and still had trouble standing without help. Sunny had to be strong enough to protect the baby, and for a second he realized what a horrible situation he had put her in. Sunny was barely more than a baby herself.

"Sunny!" he called. "Beatrice! Where are you?"

"Here!"

He heard the voice of his little sister as he pushed open the door and saw the two girls huddled on the bed. Both were soaking wet but safely away from the water, though it wouldn't be long before the waves reached the mattress. Sunny held Beatrice in her arms, and for some reason the baby wasn't crying. She looked cold and frightened, and when Klaus scooped her up in one arm she buried her face in his shirt, but she didn't cry.

"Where's Violet?" Sunny asked as Klaus lifted her from the bed.

"By the dinghy," he said, sloshing his way back to the hatch. "She's getting it ready so we can leave. A dinghy is…" He meant to explain the word to his sister, but she shook her head.

"I know."

Of course she did. He had been explaining words to her since she was very small, and he had no doubt that one day her vocabulary would be nearly as extensive as his own.

Just then, a large wave crashed through the hatch, and Klaus stumbled, nearly losing his footing in his attempt to hold onto both girls. The water didn't bother him all that much, and he was used to the cold, but that wave had been strong enough to sweep the deck clean. "Violet!" he called, hoping his sister could hear him over the thunder. "Violet!"

His second call was obscured by both thunder and a strangely beautiful creaking, groaning sound from behind him. "Look!" Sunny called, and he turned to see a blue police box sitting in the water as though it was meant to be there.

It wasn't often that Klaus was dumbfounded, but now was one of those times. There hadn't been a police box in the hold before, but somehow there was one now. "How… What… I…" _It's a box that can appear at random. Violet would love this_. He took a few stumbling steps forward until he stood just outside the two doors.

_Free for use of public_, the sign on the door read. Klaus wasn't sure if he could trust it. He and his sisters had encountered many untrustworthy people and organizations in their travels. But then, they had encountered some trustworthy people and organizations as well. Besides, a police box might well be safer than a sinking ship. Sunny reached out and pushed the door open, and Klaus stepped inside.

It was impossible.

That was the only word he could think on seeing the walls so far away and the ceiling so high up. The inside of the box was larger than the outside, larger even than the _Beatrice_. Klaus turned, half wanting to go back out and make sure there were no hidden rooms he could see from outside, but a voice stopped him.

"Hello! Is this your ship?"

He turned again and saw a man in a brown suit leaning against a column in the center of the room. The man had a wide grin, and he strode down the ramp to where Klaus stood with the girls. "Yes," Klaus said, letting the strange man take Beatrice. Sunny was squirming in his arms, and he set her on the floor, where she raced up to the column and jumped up and down, trying to see all the buttons and levers. "Is this yours?"

"She is. Come on in. You must be freezing. Haven't seen a storm that bad since… well, since Scotland, 2111. Or was it 2119? Oh, who knows? But it was a monster. The whole country got soaked." The man spoke very fast and lost none of his cheer. He didn't even seem annoyed at having a dripping wet baby clinging to his suit jacket.

Klaus couldn't wrap his head around any of this. "It's… it's…"

"Yes?" The man glanced back, grinning as though he knew what Klaus would say next.

"Impossible!"

The man's eyebrows shot up. "Well, that's a new one. Anyway, I suppose I ought to introduce myself. I'm the Doctor, this is the TARDIS, welcome aboard!" When Klaus didn't respond, the Doctor asked, "And who are you three?"

"Sunny Baudelaire," Sunny said, pausing her jumping long enough to stick out her hand, which the Doctor shook. "Klaus and Beatrice," she added, pointing first at her brother and then at the baby.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Sunny, Klaus, and Beatrice Baudelaire," the Doctor said with a smile. "Well, let's get you away from this wreck before we get swept away. Now, where were you headed?" He flicked a few switches on the column, and the machine began to make that creaking, groaning, beautiful sound again. Klaus realized that must be what it sounded like when it traveled, and his mind was so boggled by the strangeness of it that he could barely speak.

"Wait!" Sunny cried, grabbing the Doctor's trouser leg.

The Doctor looked down with a frown. "What's wrong?"

"Violet."

The Doctor looked to Klaus, his frown deepening. "Who's Violet?"

"My sister." He tried to swallow past the lump in his throat. Sunny shouldn't have to learn it like this, that her sister had been swept off the deck of the ship and washed into the ocean. "She was on the deck, getting the dinghy, but the waves…"

"Will not be a problem." The Doctor flipped a few more switches. "It's a time machine. Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. I can take you anywhere, anywhen. What do you say? Do you want an adventure once we pick up your sister?" He grinned, a bright smile that could have lit all the stars in the night sky. Klaus couldn't help feeling cheered by seeing that smile.

It could go any place, any time. The possibilities were boggling. He could meet Socrates, Kant, Sun Tzu. Violet could meet Nikola Tesla or Ada Lovelace. Sunny could meet Antoine Parmentier or Julia Child, and Beatrice would have all the past and the future to explore. The possibilities were endless.

They could save their parents.

Almost as soon as he thought of it, Klaus knew it wouldn't work. If they saved their parents from a fire, they would cause a paradox, because there would be no reason for them to have traveled to this point to go back and save them. It was a tempting thought, but one he couldn't pursue, and he would have to warn Violet about it. She hadn't done as much research into time travel as he had and wouldn't know the danger of paradoxes.

But if they could bring their parents out of the fire without their past selves knowing…

The groaning stopped, and the Doctor raced past Klaus, pushing Beatrice into his arms. The baby was starting to fall asleep, and Klaus settled her ear over his heart so it would lull her. She had had a long day – they all had. Sunny had started to quiet a little, and even he felt weary, but he would stay awake until this strange man had saved Violet. He wouldn't fall asleep until his sister was safe.

The Doctor grabbed a long brown coat from the railing of the ramp and stuck his head out the door, into the pouring rain. "Violet?" he called. "Violet Baudelaire?"

Klaus slumped against the railing. Violet was alive.

* * *

It wasn't the first time people had randomly turned up in his TARDIS. There had been Donna in her wedding dress, and then the _Titanic_, of all things, and even before that dear Ian and Barbara, so worried about their brilliant student, but this was the first time children had burst in. Three children, in fact, two of whom were young enough to be carried. One didn't look quite old enough to walk, but the other raced over to the TARDIS console and began trying to see all the buttons and dials. He didn't blame her.

He took the baby from the boy and noticed how quiet she was. It had been a while since he had held such a small child, and he couldn't help worrying about her. The boy looked far too young to be her father, though he was a bit old to be her brother. Not wanting to worry any of the children, he kept his tone light. The boy called it their ship, which could mean they had some adults there… or they were the only people on the ship.

"Impossible!"

That was the first time anyone had said that, at least in that tone of voice. Incredulous, yet wanting so badly to understand. That settled it. The boy could stay, and the kids too. If they had to get home, he'd take them home, but first he would show them the stars. It had been too long since he'd had proper children in the TARDIS. The names were good, too. Klaus, Sunny (he would make jokes about that), and Beatrice.

Beatrice Baudelaire. It was a name he hadn't heard in far too long.

As soon as he heard that there was a fourth, he set his controls to land on the deck. He wouldn't lose a companion before she had even seen the inside of the ship, especially not to a storm like this. Klaus seemed either dumbfounded or tired and so didn't complain when the Doctor set Beatrice in his arms on his way to the door. He grabbed his coat on the way, pulled open the door, and looked out into the storm.

At first, he couldn't see anything. The rain drove down like sheets, but kneeling a few feet away from him was a slender figure with dark hair plastered to her head. She had turned and looked up at him with fearful dark eyes. "Violet?" he asked hopefully. "Violet Baudelaire?"

She nodded. "Who are you?" Her voice hitched and caught, and she looked as though she had been crying, or nearly so.

"I'm the Doctor, and I'm here to help. Come on. Let's get you in out of this rain." He opened the doors wide enough for her to see the coat, which he held out like an invitation.

"My family…"

"Are inside." He smiled and extended a hand to her. She didn't even hesitate before getting to her feet and hurrying into the TARDIS. He wrapped his coat around her trembling shoulders and pulled her inside before shutting the door tightly. She was young, possibly as young as Susan had been. Her dark hair wasn't helping to rid him of his urge to hug her as tightly as she could.

"Klaus!" she cried, the coat nearly falling off her shoulders as she ran to embrace her brother. She pressed her cheek to his forehead, but was distracted a second later by Beatrice, who she kissed on the top of her head and both cheeks. She nearly flew to Sunny and swept her up in her arms. "I thought you didn't make it out of the hold," she said. The coat slipped to the floor, and the Doctor quickly wrapped it around her again.

"I thought a wave swept you off the ship," Klaus said. "There was a wave…"

"Thank you." Violet looked up at the Doctor and smiled, though he could see tears starting in her eyes. "I don't know what I would have done if…" Her voice broke off, and she held Sunny closer to her.

"Let's get you warmed up," he said, draping an arm over her shoulders. He set his other on Klaus's and led them into the interior of the TARDIS so they could get some dry clothes and something hot to drink. There had to be some clothes somewhere that would fit them, and he knew he had some tea in all of the kitchens. One might even have hot chocolate.

"By the way, Doctor," Violet said, "how did you get this thing to be so much bigger on the inside?"

* * *

There was a bedroom large enough for the four of them. Violet and Klaus got to have bunk beds, while Sunny nestled into a trundle bed next to Klaus. Beatrice was in a cradle, and both the smaller children were fast asleep. Beatrice had dozed off while being changed into dry clothes, and Sunny hadn't lasted much longer. Both Violet and Klaus were tired as well, but neither was quite ready to sleep. Violet hadn't gotten enough answers aside from that the TARDIS had an extra dimension inside it, and she knew that Klaus was puzzling something over in his mind. She simply didn't know if she ought to ask.

It turned out she didn't have to. "Violet?" Klaus asked from the lower bunk.

"Yes?" She leaned over, despite knowing she didn't much need to bother. Without his glasses, he would only see her as a light blur surrounded by a dark blur.

"This is a time machine."

Violet wasn't sure how to respond to that. Her first thought was that it had to be impossible, but then, a box with an extra dimension was already impossible. "Really?" She definitely needed to find out how it worked, in that case. Maybe the Doctor would let her play around with the console in the center.

"That's what he said," Klaus murmured. "We can go any place and any time. I could meet Voltaire."

"And I could meet Hedy Lamarr." She didn't dare voice the thought that they could see their parents again. Not save them; that probably wouldn't be possible. Just see them, just once, so Sunny could have something to remember.

"We'll have to be careful not to cause any paradoxes," Klaus said. "We can't change the past, because we don't know how that would affect the present."

She had been afraid of that, and at least Klaus couldn't see the disappointment on her face. "But we could see the future?"

"I think so."

Violet grinned and settled back onto her bunk. "Good night, Klaus."

"Good night," he murmured, sounding already half asleep.

It didn't take her long to fall asleep, either. The bed was warm and dry, but she dreamt of crashing waves, driving rain, and flames licking up the side of her house while she stood just feet away, tossing rocks out into the sea.

* * *

When Violet woke, everyone else was gone. She sat up, rubbed the weariness from her eyes, and wandered through the halls of the TARDIS until she heard the Doctor's voice. The halls were strange and winding, and there were so many doors she wanted to explore. It wouldn't take much to get her lost, and she doubted she would mind. It might be like VFD headquarters, but unburned and with so much more to learn.

"She said she'd been sent on a mission to find vials to defeat the Master, but really she just had to tell everyone how to help me. Brilliant girl, Martha. Came up with that story all on her own. Ah, Violet!" The Doctor waved as she entered. "Care for some breakfast? I've made toast, and your sister's come up with the best hot chocolate I've ever had."

He passed her a mug, and she took a sip. The liquid was sweet and a little spicy, and she couldn't help smiling. "You've done it again, Sunny," she said. "What's your secret this time?"

"Cinnamon," the girl said.

"Well, I think I've told you enough about myself," the Doctor said. "What about you lot? What's your story? Why were you four out alone on a ship in the middle of a storm, and why isn't anyone looking after you?" He frowned, though he looked more concerned than angry, and it wasn't even the sort of concern that made Violet think he would try to stick them with some other relative who they'd never met before. It made her think he would do everything he could to help them, and so she began to talk.

She told him of the horrible day at Briny Beach when they had learned that their parents were killed in a fire and their time with Count Olaf. She told him about Dr. Montgomery and Aunt Josephine, and then about their time at Lucky Smells and Prufrock Preparatory School. He had a slight frown through her tale of the Squalors and the Village of Fowl Devotees, and it only deepened when he heard about Heimlich Hospital and Caligari Carnival. Then there was Mount Fraught, the _Queequeg_, and Hotel Denouement. Klaus held Beatrice tighter when Violet mentioned Dewey's death, and still tighter when she told about the island and Kit.

"We left on the _Beatrice_ a year later," she said. "We hadn't made it very far before the storm, and then you found us." Somehow, telling the story had made her feel a bit better about everything a bit more distant from the events. Klaus looked distraught, and Sunny merely curious, as though she had been hearing a very interesting story.

The Doctor had his hands wrapped tightly around the back of a chair, but his tone was as light as ever. "Sounds like you four have had a rough time of it. I know this may sound a bit odd, but I think you could use a vacation. What do you say to exploring time and space with me? I know I'm not family, but…"

"We accept."

His grin was like a burst of sunlight from behind a cloud. "Excellent! Now, where would you like to go? Invention, libraries, food?" He looked to each of the siblings in turn, and all were silent, turning over possibilities in their minds. There were too many possibilities, and none of them could find an answer. He turned then to Beatrice. "What about you? Where do you want to go?" After a while longer of silence, he shrugged. "I'll surprise you, then. _Allons-y_!"

"Allons-what?" Violet whispered to Klaus as they followed the Doctor out of the kitchen and to the console in what she thought of as simply the front room.

"_Allons-y_! It's French for 'let's go!' The interjection form."

When they arrived, the Doctor was running about the console, chattering about a time-space vortex and what would they like to see and how he had only shown this to one person before and weren't they in for a treat. Klaus and Sunny stood in the entrance to the room, but Violet strode forward and tapped the Doctor on the shoulder.

He spun on his toe. "Yes?"

"This console in the center," she began, but paused, not entirely sure how to continue.

"Lovely, isn't it?" The Doctor grinned and darted about, twirling and running his fingers over the buttons. He looked as though he was touching them at random, but she was sure there had to be some kind of order lying beneath his chaos.

"Yes. Could I learn how it works?"

"No." He paused and looked at her. "Yes, but not right now. I don't mean to be rude, but… she's my TARDIS. If you're going to stay here, I'll teach you, and maybe…" He hesitated just a bit. "If you'd want to stay, really stay and not just for a while, I'll teach you properly."

"We haven't anywhere to go," Violet said, and though that realization made her heart sink, somehow it cheered the Doctor, though he might have been smiling simply for her sake.

"Why, then, you've got everywhere to go." He had reached her again and grabbed her hand. "We've arrived. Would you care to do the honors? You three can come too," he called back to Klaus, Sunny, and Beatrice. "This is a present for all of you." He raced to the doors, pulling Violet along with him. His legs were so long that she was forced to run to keep up, and there was just enough time for her to wonder if this was what it would always be like: her hand in his, running by his side. Then he had stopped and stepped back. "Wait for them to catch up," he whispered in her ear. "Then open the doors."

When Klaus and Sunny stood beside her and Klaus had turned Beatrice's attention to the doors, Violet opened them, revealing thousands of stars stretching out through blackness. One star was close enough to be a sun, but that wasn't what the Doctor had brought them there to see. Right in front of them was a black and red sphere, crackling with fire. It looked like some sort of hell planet, and beside her Klaus gasped.

"It's Earth," he said, turning excitedly to the Doctor. "That's Earth, isn't it?"

"Earth at the very beginning," the Doctor said. "I've only ever shown this to one person before. What do you think?"

"Look, Sunny," Klaus said, bending down slightly to set a hand on his little sister's shoulder. "That's what our world used to look like, billions of years ago. Isn't it beautiful?"

Sunny had other things on her mind than the beauty of history. "Where's the moon?"

Violet had been wondering that too, but it had been a spare thought at the back of her mind. Somehow she thought she knew the answer, from one of Klaus's excited chatterings about a book, but she must have been planning an invention, for she didn't remember what he had said.

"The moon's younger than the Earth, Sunny," Klaus said. "It hasn't been formed yet. An asteroid – a large rock from space – will crash into the earth and get caught in its orbit, and then we'll have a moon."

"Oh." She sounded satisfied with her brother's explanation and resumed looked out at their barren planet.

It was beautiful, in a strange sort of way. There was something raw and horrifying about it, and yet knowing that it would someday bring forth Beatrice and Bertrand Baudelaire, Kit Snicket, and the Quagmire triplets made it worth loving, even now that it looked like no one could love such a frightful place. That nascent world before her would bring forth not just good but also evil, and everything in between.

"Violet?" The Doctor's voice stirred her from her thoughts. "Are you all right?"

"Yes," she said, turning her head away so she could wipe the tears from her eyes. Not wanting to look at the Earth any longer, she turned away and walked back up to the console, brushing away tears and her hair.

"Why hasn't the air gone out of the TARDIS?" Klaus asked. "It's just vacuum out there. We should all have been sucked out."

"Force field, or something like that. Did you like my little welcoming present? It wasn't much, but I thought you might like something like that." The Doctor chattered on his way up the ramp, but once he reached Violet he slipped an arm around her shoulders and asked, "Are you sure you're all right?"

She nodded. "There are just a lot of people that I miss."

"I know the feeling."

She tucked her hair behind her ears. "Doctor, do you have something I can tie my hair back with? A ribbon, or a scrap of fabric, or something? I like to have it out of my way when I'm working." She turned away from him and walked around the console, looking at the lights so she wouldn't have to see his gentle eyes. For some reason, it hurt even more to have him try to help her.

"I'm sure I've got something," he said. "Have you got a favorite color?"

"Not pink," she said with a little smile.

"I'll find you a ribbon, Violet," the Doctor said. "If I don't have one here, I'll take you to the Moncrieff System. They make the most durable silk in the universe there, in any color you can imagine." He patted her shoulder on his way around the console, and she hurried out of the room and down the hall.

* * *

Klaus found his older sister huddled in a small room, looking over a make-shift wrench. Her hair was in a rough braid shoved down the back of her dress, and she looked distraught. "Where's Sunny?" she asked, glancing up at him for barely a second.

"Playing with Beatrice. There's a room full of toys on this ship, and they should be happy for a while." He sat beside her, not sure if he ought to say anything. "Don't you trust him?"

"I don't know who to trust," she said, setting aside the wrench and resting her head against the wall. "Everyone either tries to hurt us or ends up dead, and I think he only wants to help. Things were better when it was just us."

He hadn't known she was so bitter. "Not everyone ended up dead," he reminded her. "Hector's all right, and the Quagmires…"

"We haven't seen Hector in over a year," she said. "For all we know, he and Duncan and Isadora were captured. And Quigley –" Her voice broke, and she turned away from him. "I want to trust the Doctor. I really do. I just can't stand to lose anyone else, especially not someone so kind."


	2. Yesterday's Children

The future wasn't what Violet had imagined. If she was going to be honest, she hadn't done all that much imagining. She had known technology would progress, but she hadn't imagined that it would be nearly indistinguishable from anything else. The Doctor had set her between two trees and challenged her to tell him which was real and which had been constructed to serve as a communications tower. Seven minutes later, she still couldn't tell.

"This is incredible," she said, running her hands over the bark. Both were equally rough and coarse under her fingers, and she couldn't hear any ticking or whirring that might make her think she stood beside a machine. "I give up. Which one?"

"The one on your right." He was grinning that irrepressible grin again. "Can you tell now?"

It seemed a perfectly normal tree, with sunlight that filtered through the leaves and little branches that moved gently in the wind. "No, I can't." It was the first time not understanding something had made her smile, and the smile only grew wider when the Doctor joined her beside the tree. "Is there any way to tell?"

"Not without knowing beforehand. I used this." He pulled something that looked rather like a pen from a pocket inside his coat. "Sonic screwdriver," he said in response to her unasked question. "Brilliant thing. I might let you use it someday."

"I'd like to know how it works," she said.

"So would I." He tucked his screwdriver away and held his hand out to her. "Come on. Let's see what your brother's been getting up to."

The trees were part of a scattered forest, or perhaps it was a field that simply had several clusters of trees. They had left Klaus, Sunny, and Beatrice at a house at the edge of the field with a caretaker couple and several books. "I hadn't thought the future would be so pastoral," Violet said, stepping over a flower.

"Well, not all of it. Just this little section. There are places that look like they could have come out of science fiction novels – did you ever read those?"

"When I was kid. I lost interest in them when I found out I couldn't build a working spaceship out of what my parents had in the house." It was a melancholy memory since everything had been burned, but suddenly she saw herself as a little girl, sitting on the floor surrounded by tools and bits of metal, with a copy of _Stranger in a Strange Land _lying a few feet away, and it was so sweet and ridiculous that she couldn't help smiling.

"And now you live in one."

She almost wished she had taken his hand instead of ignoring it. It was a bit late to reach out for him now, but she tried to keep pace with his long strides as she looked around at the trees. For all she knew, he had brought her to the only real one there. "How many of these trees are actually towers?"

"About one in seven," he said. "And around half of the grass is charging them, too."

Violet stopped and looked down at the stems that had bent beneath her feet. They looked like ordinary grass, but she was afraid to take another step forward for fear of crushing delicate equipment.

"Don't worry," the Doctor said. "You can't hurt them with a step. They're a good bit stronger than that. Just like normal grass, except they won't grow back if they light on fire or get pulled up."

"Is that why Loreena didn't want Beatrice coming out here?" The old woman at the cottage had been wary about sending Beatrice and Sunny out into the field, and so Klaus had stayed behind with them. "I'd have made sure she didn't pull anything up."

"She wouldn't have enjoyed it as much as you do, though," he said. "It'd just be a pretty field and some pretty trees. Our next stop's for her, though; she can pull as many pieces of grass as she wants when we go to a real field."

Sunny was the first person Violet saw, the little girl sprinting out of the cottage as fast as her legs could carry her. Violet scooped up her sister and swung her around in a hug. "You didn't get too lonely, did you?" she asked. "Were you and Beatrice good for Klaus?" Sunny nodded, and Violet set her down before stepping inside.

It was much cooler inside, and she sighed in relief at the shadow. The sunlight had been warm and soft against her skin, but it was just as nice to be inside. Beatrice sat on a woven rug with some blocks, a few feet from Klaus, who was reading a book. Violet sat beside him as Sunny returned to Beatrice to help her build a little village. "Was it nice outside?" Klaus asked.

"Very. I'm sorry you had to stay inside."

"Don't be." He pushed his glasses up on his nose and smiled eagerly at her. "Have you seen what this book can do?" Before she could answer, he set it before her. "Here. Look at this."

The page was a description of the lifespan of a volatile star, full of long words that Violet hadn't seen before and would have no hope of puzzling out from the context. When she turned the page, however, the text changed to a technical manual, complete with diagrams. "This is incredible," she said, flipping through the pages.

"It changes to whatever the reader wants." Klaus took the book back, and the words were about stars once more. "I helped Sunny read a story from this earlier."

Loreena, her husband, and the Doctor were standing at the other end of the room, chatting. "Oh, they're not my children," the Doctor said, laughing. "I'm just a friend of the family."

A friend. He had been looking directly at them when he said it, and she wanted very badly to believe him.


	3. A Privileged Few

The night over Loreena's cottage was unfamiliar. Klaus stood outside looking up at the stars long after Violet, Sunny, and Beatrice had gone to bed. Though he knew he wouldn't find any, he kept looking for familiar constellations. Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, Orion… even the Southern Cross or Carina would have been comforting. Everything was foreign, and though he reminded himself that even if they were on Earth – the Doctor hadn't been clear about that – the planet might have moved far enough through the galaxy that the stars would have appeared to shift.

"Can't sleep?"

He jumped a little at hearing the Doctor's voice behind him. "No. I was just thinking."

"Never been this far from home before?" The Doctor looked up at the stars, a faint smile on his face. "You're not the first one to feel like that."

"Really?" Klaus knew the Doctor had traveled with other people. He had even mentioned some of them, like Martha and Sarah Jane.

"It's a lonely feeling to know you're standing on a world you never would have if I hadn't brought you along. I've seen it in their eyes. Most of the time they're excited, but there's always that hint of dread, that knowledge that they shouldn't be here and can't go back to their old life." He sighed. "It's why I have trouble saying good-bye. How am I supposed to tell them they have to go back to their mundane world when they've seen the past and the future?"

"Are any of them glad to go back?"

"Not really. There was one who left me, but it was because she knew she couldn't stay. She had a family to look after. I still miss her."

"Will you miss us?" The question came out before Klaus could think about it. It was a child's question, one that belonged to someone who was desperate for affection and attention. He wasn't an adult yet, but he had to act like one, or at least enough like one that Violet wouldn't have to watch over three children.

The Doctor glanced at him, raising his eyebrows. The response wasn't one of surprise, or at least not the surprise Klaus had expected. "Of course I will. You're brilliant, all of you. Sunny's the first child I've known who can cook, and once I let Violet touch my TARDIS, she'll probably take it apart and put it back together better than before. You've read more than any boy your age, and I'd better not let you in the Library or you'll never come out again. And Beatrice… it's been a while since I spent time with a baby."

One word had caught Klaus's ear. "What Library? You make it sound like it's something important."

The Doctor grinned. "I knew you'd be interested. It's a planet that's nothing but library. Books and books that would take you years to finish. I even cleared out the Vashta Nerada, so you'd have no fear of being eaten alive."

Klaus was torn between wonder and fear. "Eaten alive?" he asked, more fascinated than frightened. "What's the Vashta Nerada?"

"Living shadows. They can strip the flesh from your bones in less than a second. Don't worry, though," he added quickly. "There aren't any here."

Still, the shadows looked a bit more menacing and mysterious. "Why us?" Klaus asked. It had been something that had bothered him since waking up in the bunk bed below Violet and hearing Sunny singing quietly in her toneless child's voice to Beatrice. "Why did you decide we were the right ones to bring along? You could have taken us to shore and then left us."

The Doctor shook his head. "Not easily. I've gotten used to having company, and it's not good for me to be alone." A shadow of a thought passed over his face, but it was gone in a moment. "Besides, you're the sorts of people I like having around. Wide-eyed, clever, excited… once I'd gotten to know you, I couldn't just set you down somewhere and wish you good luck, especially since you've got nowhere else to go."

"Have you got anywhere to go?" Once he had asked that first question, all others seemed easier. He hadn't even known all those questions were locked up in his mind until he started asking.

"I've got everywhere to go." The Doctor grinned, first at Klaus and then at the stars.

"What about a home?"

"The TARDIS." He said it as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "She's my home. Inquisitive lad, aren't you?"

"I've always been."

"Well, ask away."

Suddenly there were too many questions, all clamoring for position, knowing the night was fleeting and eventually he would be too tired to speak. "How many people have traveled with you?"

"Dozens. Not quite a hundred, not yet, but there have still been quite a few."

"Have you ever forgotten any?" He couldn't tell whether it was another child's question, whether it made him sound jealous and fearful that the Baudelaires were just another few in a string of fellow travelers, and the Doctor would forget them as soon as they had left his TARDIS for good.

"I never forget anyone. I'll certainly not forget you."

The Doctor said it as though he had known why Klaus was asking and wanted to reassure him. It would even have worked if he didn't remember what Violet had said earlier. The Doctor had proven to be a good man – or at least a cruel one very good at lying – or he would die, and Klaus didn't want to see this laughing, eager, impossible man dead.

The Doctor must have seen the concern on his face but not understood its cause, for he continued, "You Baudelaires are part of a privileged few. I only take people on my ship if I know they will be brilliant."

"Thank you." The stars didn't seem quite so alien anymore.


	4. Color of Chaos

The TARDIS doors opened onto darkness. "Well, that's odd," said the Doctor. Violet thought there was quite a bit odd about her new life, and if the Doctor thought something was odd, then it was a mystery indeed. He pulled his screwdriver out of his coat and shone it into the darkness. The bright blue and familiar hum were comforting, but they illuminated nothing. After a few seconds, the Doctor pulled his screwdriver back in and looked at it with a frown.

"What's wrong?" Violet asked.

"I'm not sure." He smacked the screwdriver against his hand a few times, but that didn't seem to change anything, for he stuck it into his jacket again and squinted into the darkness. "This is supposed to be Digne, but I don't remember it being so dark."

"Where's Digne?" Klaus asked from where he stood in the other doorway.

"Second planet around a binary star system. It's got the most interesting cathedrals, especially when one sun's setting and the other's rising." The Doctor tapped his foot impatiently on the ground. "Where are Sunny and Beatrice?"

"I left them in the playroom," Klaus said. He stepped around the console and stared out at the darkness. "Are we going to go out there?"

"Of course we are. Violet, there's a red switch on the console, would you flip it for me?"

Thrilled to have a chance to even touch the console, Violet hurried to the red switch, was directed to the other red switch, and flipped it. Nothing happened. "What did that do?"

"It locked the girls in the playroom. They'll be safe in there until we get back. Now, let's –"

Violet marched up to the Doctor and stood as tall as she could. She wasn't nearly as tall as he was, but he looked at least a little intimidated as she stared up at him.

"There are loads of toys for them, and plenty of food and juice," the Doctor said, nearly babbling in an attempt to apologize. "I just don't want them wandering around and getting lost out there. It's too dangerous for children, and I promise we'll get back before they have a chance to really miss you. You'll be with me."

She hadn't been sure what she was going to yell at him about, so she simply set her mouth and nodded. "Warn me next time," she said.

"That I will. Klaus! Down the hall, first door on your right, there'll be some lamps. Would you grab three?"

"Sure." Klaus hurried out of the room.

"You're not going to leave him, too, are you?" Violet asked. Leaving the children behind was one thing, but she wasn't going to leave Klaus on the TARDIS to wait for her and the Doctor.

"Of course not," the Doctor said. "We need those lights, and I'd say he's old enough to come along. Ah! Wonderful!" Klaus had returned, and the Doctor took two of the lamps from his arms and handed one to Violet. "Stay close, you two. _Allons-y_!"

With that, he led them out into the darkness.

Once the doors to the TARDIS closed behind them, the only light came from their lamps, shining feebly out into the darkness. They were the only things close enough to reflect the light, so Violet could only see Klaus and the Doctor standing beside her. With her free hand, she reached out at grabbed the Doctor's elbow. Klaus did the same, and the Doctor gave each of them a smile before setting off into the black.

"What was Digne like?" Klaus asked. He spoke softly, as though afraid to disturb the darkness, and Violet couldn't blame him. Even if there was nothing out there, she wouldn't want that nothing to take notice of them. They had left the TARDIS behind and had no reference point, and she found herself almost wishing the Doctor had decided not to take them outside. They could have stayed in and tried to study the darkness from someplace safe, or perhaps even left and gone on to someplace with more light, more life. Then she remembered that she was supposed to be brave for her siblings, and she absently reached up and touched the dark red ribbon the Doctor had given her. Perhaps she could use their lamps and his screwdriver to invent something that would light up this whole area.

"Beautiful," the Doctor said. "There was a large road that went through its main city, Raglan. It was surrounded by the best little shops and had paths that would branch out into gardens. Right in the center of town was the largest cathedral you can imagine, reaching up over everything. The tip of its steeple was made of stained glass, and you could follow the colored shadow it made all around the town as the suns went across the sky. It turned a different color for each sun, and on Eclipse Day everywhere would light up like a rainbow, and you could hear the bells ringing from every corner."

Violet thought she could hear them now, faintly, a tinkling in the back of her mind. When she turned to look, she saw nothing, but still she heard the bells. A song started up as well, a slow, melancholy hymn that did not fit the joyous sound of the bells. She couldn't make out the words, but something about the tune touched her heart, and she had to bite her lip to keep back tears.

"Violet? Are you all right?"

She looked up at the Doctor and managed a smile. "Yes. I'm just a bit nervous, I suppose."

"Aren't we all," he murmured.

"Shouldn't we have found something by now?" Klaus asked.

"Yes, we should. Violet, could you check the ground for me? Keep a hold on my hand so we don't lose you," he added as she started to kneel.

Her hand slid down his arm until his fingers caught hers, and she held her lantern close to the ground. There was nothing there. It was completely black, without even a reflection to show that her lantern hung inches above it. "What do you want me to look for?"

"There should be a road," the Doctor said. "I meant to bring us to Raglan. What do you see?"

"Nothing. There's nothing at all there."

"What do you mean?" He sounded worried, almost frightened, and his hand tightened on hers.

"I mean there isn't even a reflection of my lantern. It's like we're standing on nothing at all." It felt solid beneath her feet, and she wondered whether she would be able to learn anything by touching it. She didn't want to let go of the Doctor's hand, so she set her lantern on the ground.

It went dark.

"Violet?" Klaus's voice shook. "What happened?"

"Violet, are you all right?" The Doctor's hand clenched hers so tightly it nearly hurt, but as she watched it faded from before her. She could still feel it, but when she looked up she could see nothing at all.

"Violet?"

"Violet, answer me!"

Someone was screaming, but it was not a voice she recognized. The bells had grown louder, and their clamor vibrated in her bones. The ground was a road, stretching away before her, and all around her people were running, trying to light torches and candles in an attempt to hold back the darkness descending from the sky. It came down like a veil, drifting, sometimes buffeted up by some invisible force but always managing to sink just a little farther before the next time. It covered the steeple of the cathedral, devouring the colored lights. Soon it had reached the roofs of the tallest houses, and even the fires people set to their chimneys did nothing to stop it.

Then it had her, and she was surrounded by nothing.

Violet reached out for her lantern, hoping that maybe she could relight her world. The Doctor was still right next to her, holding her as though he were trying to keep her from drowning and calling her name. "I'm here," she said, but he may not have heard, for his voice grew more urgent. "Doctor, I'm right here." As she groped for her lantern, her hand brushed against the floor, and then she wasn't there at all.

* * *

Sunlight poured onto the town, making everything shine. A tall steeple shed colors across the street and onto the silver-white houses, and people in brightly colored clothes moved in and out of the patches of red and blue, laughing and talking. Bells were ringing everywhere in joyful cacophony, and the ground beneath her feet was a road of beautifully polished cobblestones that glinted like gems.

"Excuse me, miss." Someone set a hand on her shoulder. "Are you all right?"

Violet blinked. "I think so," she said, accepting the woman's hand. Her clothes were even more elaborate than those of the other people, and with her red hair and brown skin she seemed to be bursting with color. The only colorless things Violet could see were her eyes, but those weren't drab so much as simply empty black. A shiver ran down her spine, and she looked quickly away. "Where am I?"

"You're in Raglan, dear girl."

"Raglan," she whispered. So this was the city the Doctor had wanted to bring them to. It was more beautiful than she had imagined, but she didn't understand how she could have arrived there. Everything had been dark, and then there had been light.

"Are you lost?"

"I think so. I was with my brother and a friend, but I don't know where they've gone." She looked about as though she would see them standing just a few feet away, but all the people there were unfamiliar. "Maybe I just don't know where I've gone."

"Well, perhaps we can get you something to eat. You look a bit pale." The woman took Violet's arm and steered her through the crowd. "What's your name?"

"Violet. Violet Baudelaire."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Violet. My name is Jorja Reyi."

Jorja led Violet into one of the houses and closed the door, shutting out some of the light. Violet hadn't realized her head was aching until she sat down, and she buried her face in her hands while Jorja talked over her head and bustled about through the house.

"You're not from around here, I'd bet. One of the smaller towns more likely, where they don't have as many colors on Eclipse Day. Well, don't you worry. I'll get you a bit of water and you'll feel right as anything."

"Thank you," Violet said. She accepted the glass of water Jorja handed her and took a few sips. It was cool and refreshing, but it tasted a bit strange. It wasn't the sort of water she was used to, but her head felt a bit better and she was able to sit up straight. "I didn't expect this place to be so bright."

"You're from Meral, aren't you? Lovely place, but a bit too drab for my taste. Now, would you like some help finding your brother? I can ask around for your companions. I know quite a few people in this area."

Violet got to her feet. "I'm not sure they'd be here."

"Where did you last see them?"

_The darkness surrounding, her lantern going out, and the floor rising up around her like fingers made of smoke. Bells clanging, people screaming, and that hymn behind all…_

She shook her head. "I doubt you'd believe me if I told you." She barely believed it herself. Such darkness couldn't exist in a world so bright, a world that sparkled before her eyes. There were colors here that she couldn't name, and even Jorja's dark eyes seemed filled with light. Her head spun, and she groped for the chair before her legs collapsed beneath her. "Where am I?"

"You don't belong here, Violet Baudelaire."

The glass slipped from her hand and shattered on the floor, the shards and water shimmering chaotic.


	5. Once Upon a Time

_Once upon a time there was a man with two hearts._

She was gone. Violet had vanished from sight, and the only way he knew she was still there was from her hand in his. But he couldn't see their two hands, and if he brought his lamp around to light her, he might lose Klaus.

_"Two hearts?"_

"Violet? What happened?" Klaus's voice shook, but he didn't sound afraid, though his grip on the Doctor's arm tightened.

_Yes, dear. Two hearts. And just think what a man can do with those two hearts!_

"Violet, are you all right?" He tried to keep his tone light for all their sakes. Perhaps the lantern had gone out unexpectedly. He held her hand more firmly, waiting for her answer. If she wouldn't answer her brother, who was still calling her name, perhaps she would answer him.

_He can love twice as much…_

There was no response from Violet, not even a tightening of her hand on his. "Violet, answer me!" Desperation rose in his chest. He couldn't lose her, not like this, not if he didn't know how to reach her and her name was another flower. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Klaus edge forward, holding out his lantern. The light fell nothing.

_lose twice as much…_

Then she was gone. His hand closed around nothing, and though he lunged forward in a last hope that he could catch her, he found only her lantern, which flickered feebly as he lifted it. "No," he whispered. "No!"

_hate twice as much._

"Doctor? Doctor, where is she?"

_"Why are you telling me this?"_

"I don't know." He got to his feet, staring at the empty darkness where Violet had just been. "I've lost her." And like that, the truth seemed to crash down around him.

_Because you must understand why our world has grown dark and dead._

Violet was gone.

_"I thought you said the darkness came from a storm."_

"You lost her?" Klaus's voice was caught somewhere between fear and shock. "How did you lose her? Weren't you holding her hand?"

_It did. He brought the storm._

"I was." Her hand hadn't even slipped out of his. It had simply gone, as though it had turned to air. He set the lantern on the floor again. Maybe she would find it. Maybe she would be able to use it to find him. "Come on. We're going back to the TARDIS."

_He raged on our city and doused its lights._

"What? No, we can't just leave her –"

_Our jewel of a city was brought low by his fury._

The Doctor whirled on Klaus, and the boy stumbled back a step in fear, only staying so close because he would not release his grip on the Doctor's elbow. "I'm not leaving her," he said. "I'll never leave her. Right now, I'm keeping you safe. It's what she would want." He turned his face to where Violet had been. "Violet, if you can hear me, don't worry. I'm coming to find you. I promise nothing will harm you."

_Our fair Raglan._

"I want to help," Klaus said. "I'm not a child."

_"Tell me about Eclipse Day."_

"I need you to watch Sunny and Beatrice." It wasn't wholly a lie; it was possible the two children were in some sort of danger, even though he had designed the playroom to be the safest place in the TARDIS. "I didn't realize it was so dangerous out here, and if something happens, I'll need you to get them to safety."

_My world had two suns before the darkness came. Now it could have thousands, but I wouldn't know._

"But I don't know how to fly the TARDIS."

_Eclipse Day was when the suns would come so close together they looked like one. It's why every city had so much colored glass._

"There's a manual somewhere. I keep trying to get rid of it, but it always turns up. You should be able to find it if you look hard enough."

_Raglan was the greatest of these cities. Every color of the rainbow shone down on it during Eclipse Day._

They hadn't gone more than two steps when Klaus stopped. "Did you hear that?"

_You should have seen the celebrations. Everyone was so happy._

"Hear what?" Klaus was looking off into the distance, peering through the darkness. "Klaus, what did you hear?"

_I think that's why the Doctor hated us._

"It sounded like a scream." His eyes widened with horror. "Someone's calling for help! Doctor, we have to do something."

_He had lost so much that his two hearts turned to hatred._

"Klaus, there's nothing out there." The Doctor reached around with his free hand to grab Klaus's shoulder. The boy had started to strain against him, reaching out to help whoever was there.

_He couldn't stand that people could still be happy in a universe that had torn his home from him._

"It's Violet! She's calling for help! Doctor, can't you hear her?"

_It took everyone he ever loved._

He wished he could. He wanted so badly to hear Violet, even if she was in danger, so that he could find her and bring her back to the TARDIS. "Klaus, there's nothing out there," he said again. "Please, believe me. I don't know where Violet's gone, but she isn't there."

_In the end, he decided it would be better to simply not love at all._

With a cry of anger, Klaus tore free from the Doctor's arms and raced into the darkness, calling, "Violet! Violet!" The Doctor ran after him, reaching out to catch his arm, but it wasn't long before Klaus had vanished into the darkness.

_It reached a point where even seeing love was painful to him._

"Klaus! Klaus, come back!" The Doctor stopped and held his lamp as high as he could, hoping the boy would see it or at least respond. He received no answer, and his arm slowly dropped to his side.

_When he came to Raglan, he was barely a man. He was the fury of a storm._

He was alone.

_"Why are you telling me this?"_

Not alone, he reminded himself, not yet. There were still the children to look after. He had to make sure they were safe, and then he could find Klaus and Violet. Cursing himself and the darkness, he turned and ran to the TARDIS.

_So that you remember._

It wasn't there. Where it had been – or where he thought it had been – was only darkness. His lamp fell to the ground and went out.

_I am the only one left from Raglan._

Nothing like this had ever happened to him before. He had never lost so much in such a short span of time. Never such a failure, such agonizing loss. Four companions – four children – gone without hope of finding them again.

_Someone must know what the Doctor has done to us._

He dropped to his knees, and for a second his hands brushed the floor. Then even the darkness was gone, and he heard Klaus calling for his sister.

_You must be the one to stop him from hurting anyone again. You will be our new sun. I knew it when I first heard your name._

* * *

The room was far from pleasant. The tiled floor was dirty, and the walls were little better. There wasn't much furniture: two chairs and a gurney were the only objects there. But there was light, and people, and for a moment that was all he needed. The people were talking, too, and their voices sounded normal.

"I knew it when I first heard your name," a woman said. She had red curls that seemed to go everywhere and was talking to a pale, dark-haired girl who looked oddly familiar. "Sunny."

The Doctor scrambled to his feet. She couldn't be. He had left Sunny in the playroom, safe with Beatrice, but the fact that he hadn't been able to find the TARDIS made him tremble. Perhaps someone had found it before he could and managed to unlock it. They would have seen two children, possibly hungry, certainly frightened, and if they were the sort who saw weapons rather than someone to help… "Where's Beatrice?" he asked, marching toward the red-haired woman.

She turned her head to face him and smiled. It was an unsettling expression, made even more so by how dark her eyes were. "So you've joined us," she said. "I wondered when you would arrive. Tell me, which loss was it that broke you? Were you strong enough to last through both the older ones, or did you fall to pieces when Violet vanished from your arms?"

His hands balled into fists, but before he could stop shouting the girl – Sunny, if the woman was to be believed – spoke. "Jorja, who are you talking to? There's no one there."

Jorja's smile grew. "I'll explain in a moment. Sit there a while." Sunny nodded once and directed her focus to the far wall, acting as though she were a statue. "She can't see or hear you," Jorja said to the Doctor.

"I noticed. What have you done to her?" She couldn't have been much older than seven, and Beatrice would have been perhaps three years old, if she was still alive. She had to be. He had lost Violet and Klaus, and possibly Sunny as well, but if he could still reach Beatrice, then there was hope.

"Nothing at all. You ought to be more concerned about what's happened to you."

"And what's that?"

If he hadn't been so angry, if he hadn't already seen so much her smile would have been terrifying. As it was, it was infuriating. "You fell through space and time, Doctor. I made this place so I would have someplace with light in it after you brought the darkness to Raglan. It was hard to find what I needed to build this place exactly as I wanted, but now I can control who comes and who goes. I have free reign of the place, of course, and someday Sunny will as well. As for you… you don't exist."

"I might disagree with you on that."

"But Sunny would agree. She can't see or hear you. So far as she knows, I'm speaking to a figment of my mind, something I've created to help me through surviving the darkness. Violet and the boy won't be able to see you either, but I doubt you need to worry about them. It will be impossible for you to find them."

They were alive. She wouldn't dangle this in front of him only to snatch it away, not if she knew how dangerous he could be. "What about Beatrice? Where is she?"

"Beatrice?" Jorja frowned, then her eyes widened in understanding. "Oh, the baby! I don't know where she ended up. I doubt she'd have lasted long, though. It's a difficult world for anyone, and she could barely speak."

"You left her to die?" Every word was tinged with thunder.

"She was useless to me. I'm waging a war, Doctor, not running an orphanage. And speaking of war, I may have won." She smiled, almost gleefully. "You've lost everything, just like I did! There's nothing you can do. I've brought you even lower than you brought me, and now you couldn't harm me if you tried."

He wanted to strike her, to lunge out and hurt her in any way possible, but then his gaze went to Sunny. She still sat on the chair, staring straight ahead at nothing. Now that he knew who she was, he didn't think she could have been anyone else. Her dark hair was so similar to her siblings', and if she had a ribbon she likely would have tied it back as Violet did. There was a harsh set to her jaw, but he couldn't help thinking that if she were to smile, it would light up her whole face.

"You're right," he said, his hands releasing from the fists. It felt as though a weight had been lifted off his shoulders, but it was a weight that had made up so much of him that he didn't know what to do without it. "You've won."

Jorja laughed. "We've done it, Sunny! He's defeated!"

Sunny smiled, and it wasn't the terrible smile he had feared she would have. It was a little girl's smile, bright and open and eager. "Have we really?" she asked. The Doctor knelt before her so he could look into her eyes, even though she looked past him as though he were not even there. For all he knew, he wasn't.

"You have," he said gently, reaching out to lay a hand on her shoulder. He wasn't sure whether he would be able to touch her or his hand would go right through her, but he wanted to at least do something. His fingers brushed her shirt, and for just a second her eyes connected with his, and her mouth opened in surprise and the hint of a smile which turned to shock.

"Doctor," she said, or was about to say, or he hoped she was about to say. There wasn't enough time for her to speak even the first syllable, for her shoulder turned to smoke beneath his hand. She faded away like a cloud, first her shoulder, then her head, then her other shoulder, and on down until her feet were the only things left on the floor. When they vanished, there was not even a hint that Sunny had been in the room. The Doctor knelt before an empty chair, his hand reaching out to nothing.

He was able to get to his feet before he found his voice. For several seconds, he stood before Jorja, clenching and unclenching his fists, trying to arrange his fury into words. "Where is she?" he managed to ask. "What have you done to her?"

"Always the same questions, Doctor," Jorja said. "I can't answer you, but only because I don't know. I thought you would just stick your hand through her shoulder and start crying. I suppose it's a good thing I didn't need her any longer."

The last of his restraint vanished, and he launched himself at her, striking out in a rage, but he was met only by laughter. His fists went right through her body. It was like attacking a hologram, and it didn't take long for him to give up and slump in the chair that had been Sunny's.

"I thought it would be something like that," Jorja went on. "Maybe it was something to do with time travel. I never really understood it. You see, I had to wait the longest time for my revenge, but you look exactly like you did when you destroyed my city. Tell me, did take a break between doing that and coming here, or did you at least have the decency to find me as soon as you could afterward?" Anger rose in her voice, but she shook her head. "No, I wasn't going to do this. I've won. There's no need to be angry."

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said. He wasn't even sure he wanted to know. He just wanted everything to end so he could be finished with this. Names floated through his mind, the names of everyone he'd lost. Rose, Donna, Adric… he should have found some way to save them. Now there were four more to add to the list. "I would never have harmed Raglan."

"But you did. I saw it. I was there." Jorja's voice was rising again, but the Doctor only had the energy to raise his eyes. "You came down on my city with the fury of the universe in your eyes and said something about the Oncoming Storm. You shouted about the fury of a Time Lord, and then the darkness came, falling over everything."

"I never did that," he said, but her voice overrode his faint protests.

"You did. I will never forget that day, or how I was separated from everyone. I decided then that I would do whatever it took to hurt you as you had hurt me. You hadn't counted on this, Doctor, but there's a vortex out here. All I have to do is put my hand into it, and I can know things." Golden sparks seemed to dance in the depth of her eyes. "I learned how to find a TARDIS, how to draw people to a certain time, how to speak to myself. I saw your friends, heard their names, and knew how to act."

"I'm sorry," he said, though he wasn't sure whether he was apologizing to Jorja or the Baudelaires. "I'm so sorry."

"Apologies won't bring back Raglan," Jorja said. "But then, I suppose I ought to at least acknowledge the gesture. I'll give you something just as well-meant but just as meaningless." Her pupils were almost entirely golden now, and light danced under her skin as she reached out to touch his shoulder. "I'll let you choose which of your friends you watch fall. You've already lost Sunny, so who next? The little girl? The boy? Or Violet?"

The Doctor's mind woke, and he shot up in the chair, only narrowly avoiding Jorja's hand. It was impossible that she knew Violet's name and not the others. Surely Sunny would have mentioned them. If he could reach Violet – clever Violet, perceptive Violet – there might be a chance. "Send me to Violet," he said. "Please. Even if she can't hear me, I want to apologize." There was enough truth there that he could make it believable.

Jorja nodded. "I thought you might want to see her." Her fingers brushed his jacket, and the vortex surrounded him.


	6. The Erratic Sea

Klaus ran until the darkness had enveloped him and the only light came from the lamp in his hand, bobbing with each step he took. The Doctor was far behind him, and he had likely lost all sense of place. People couldn't reliably walk in a straight line if there were no visual landmarks, he knew, and the Doctor had been his anchor to the ground. Now he was completely lost, and the only thing that kept him from slowing and trying to find his way back was Violet's voice.

She hadn't stopped calling since he had heard her, and if anything, her voice had grown more frantic. It was as though she were afraid she would lose him or already had, but no matter how loudly he called out to her, she didn't seem to hear him.

"Klaus!"

"Violet, I'm here! Where are you?" If anything, her voice seemed to be coming from above him, which was impossible. But then, everything about this was impossible.

"Klaus! Sunny! Beatrice!"

"They're in the TARDIS!" he called. He must have had less breath than he thought, for his head was spinning. Then he realized it wasn't his head; the ground beneath him tilted and rocked. The air had changed as well. Before, it hadn't really had a smell that he could recognize. It had simply been alien, like the TARDIS and the world with Loreena's cottage, but this air smelled familiar. It was strong and saline, and he could taste salt water on his lips.

It was impossible, but then, wasn't everything?

His shoes were soaked through, and his pants clung to his legs. Everything was clinging, from his hair to his socks, and his glasses were speckled with drops of water. He could see again, but only faintly, and the light from his lamp had dimmed. Though his surroundings were still mostly dark, he recognized the interior of the _Beatrice_ as it had been the last time he had seen it, half-ruined and sloshing with water from tiny leaks he couldn't quite pinpoint. Violet would be above with the dinghy, and Sunny and Beatrice –

His lamp fell from his hand, splashing into the water. It still gave off light, which shifted and strange patterns against the walls and ceiling. A sense of foreboding settling over him, he turned and walked to the room where he had found the girls. The water was rising rapidly, and it would have been over Sunny's head had she been standing on the floor. She would be on the bed, though, holding Beatrice and waiting.

"Sunny?" he called. "Beatrice? Where are you?"

There was no answer, but he couldn't bring himself to move more quickly. Water lapped against his thighs, rising up to his hips, and he struggled to push through it. A book floated past him, and he recognized it as his parents' commonplace book that they had found on the island. There was no use saving it now; its pages were sodden and the ink would have run. The same went for his notes, pages of which drifted about.

He reached the door to the bedroom and pushed it open, fearful of what he might find. Forcing the door through the water was an arduous task, and he only managed to open it far enough to slip inside. The bedroom was soaking wet, the mattress had started to float free of the bedframe, and the girls were nowhere to be seen. It was as though they had never been there in the first place.

"Klaus! Sunny! Beatrice!"

"They're not here," he said, but his voice was drowned out by thunder. The water had risen to his waist, and he could no longer feel his toes. Shivering, he left the bedroom and waded to the hatch. At least Violet would be here. She would be on the deck, and they would take the dinghy to safety. Even if it was just the two of them, at least they would have each other.

With every step he listened for the creaking, groaning, beautiful sound that would be the Doctor coming to save them. As soon as he heard it, he would turn and see the TARDIS. One of its doors would open, and the Doctor would peek out. "What are you doing here?" he might say. "I've got Sunny and Beatrice safe in the playroom. Let's find Violet and get you someplace warm." But by the time Klaus reached the ladder leading up to the deck, the sound still hadn't come, and he wondered what had gone so wrong that the Doctor couldn't – or wouldn't – save them.

The ladder was slick with water, but he managed to keep a grip on it as he climbed, even though the rocking of the ship sent his weight swinging from side to side. "Violet!" he called. "I'm here! I couldn't find Sunny or Beatrice. I'm sorry –"

The wave came without warning. He was three-quarters of the way up the ladder when a mass of water crashed through the hatch, washing over him and nearly pushing him to the floor. He hooked his arm over a rung of the ladder and grabbed his glasses with his other hand so he wouldn't lose them. They had been scratched and stained from having them for so long, and even with them his vision had started to go fuzzy again, but they were the only glasses he had, and it might be months or years before he could get a new pair. He didn't want to force Violet to be his eyes.

He hadn't thought he could get any more soaked, but once the water stopped pouring through the hatch he felt as though it had gotten under his skin and drenched his bones. Seawater had gotten into his mouth, and he coughed and gagged before making his way onto the deck. The water was rising rapidly below, and if Sunny and Beatrice had been there, he wouldn't have been able to get them out in time. He didn't want to wonder whether they were still there. Surely he would have heard them. Sunny would have called out to him. She wouldn't have simply sat silent, waiting for rescue that would never come.

Thunder cracked above him when he crawled from the hatch, accompanied by a flash of lightning. The storm was right above them, then, and he wondered how their mast hadn't been struck yet. Perhaps they were lucky at the worst time in their lives. Clinging to the wave-swept deck, it was hard to believe that there had been a strange box in the hold that had taken him and his family away from the _Beatrice_. Only a sense of unreality and remembering the impossible box and its impossible pilot reminded him that, however he had reached this _Beatrice_, it wasn't the real ship.

Still, nothing could stop the sharp shock he felt somewhere inside when he saw the deck was empty. There was no sign of Violet. It was as though she hadn't been there at all, though he knew she'd had to be. He'd heard her calling for him, and even though she hadn't answered when he had called back, he had maintained hope that she would be there, waiting for him. The dinghy was prepared for them to leave, filled with food and water and only enough space left for three people, or four if two were very small.

The wave. He remembered how it had crashed down while he was in the hold, carrying both Sunny and Beatrice, just before the TARDIS arrived. It would have swept the deck clean, washing Violet out into the ocean. She was a good swimmer, he reminded himself, and so long as she hadn't been badly hurt she should be able to keep her head above water and try to make for the _Beatrice _or shore. All the comfort in the world wouldn't have kept him from feeling empty at the realization that he was the only living thing on the ship.

The _Beatrice _wouldn't last much longer. He didn't have Violet to help put it back together, and even if he had she would likely have told him it was beyond saving. His only chance for survival was to cut loose the dinghy and trust his fate to the waves. Perhaps he could find Violet and bring her aboard as well. As he ran to the little boat and lowered it to the water, he decided that he didn't care whether it was the Violet who had been lost to the darkness or the one who had been calling his name, or even if they were different people. Either way, she would be his sister, and he had spent little enough time in the TARDIS that it would be easy to simply never mention it.

Waves rocked the dinghy, but he managed to push it away from the wreck of the _Beatrice _and strike out into the ocean. He remembered there being a shore nearby, and if he could just reach that, he could make a little camp until there was food and water he wouldn't struggle with carrying. The dinghy could be a makeshift shelter, and he could burn the oar when things were drier and if he could make a fire. He knew all sorts of theories but couldn't quite put together all the pieces he would need to actually set something alight.

"Violet!" he called as he struggled to row through the torrent. Only his tight grip on the oar kept it from being wrenched from his hand, and every stroke was a battle against the water. "Violet! Can you hear me?"

There was no answer.

After a few minutes, the sea began to calm. He no longer had to pause his rowing to bail out water quite so often, and the waves were easier to manage. The rain slowed to a drizzle, then stopped, though the sky was still overcast and dreary. A bit of sun did peek through every now and then, and his clothes and hair began to dry. He noticed his hunger and weariness, and stopped rowing for a time to eat, drink, and rest.

There had still been no sign of Violet, nor any of shore.

Klaus didn't think he could have come very far, but the wreck of the _Beatrice _had either sunk or was so far behind him that he could no longer see it. In fact, there was almost nothing to see. The sky above was a nearly uniform gray, and the water was a perfect reflection, its own uniformity broken only by waves too small to even rock his boat from side to side. He was a tiny dot on what seemed an endless plane of water.

Despite his weariness, he struck out in a random direction, hoping he wouldn't end up going in circles. The oar dipped easily in and out of the water, and without a struggle he found himself worrying that he would be lost forever. There was no sign of a TARDIS or any of his family, and there had been no clue as to how he arrived at the _Beatrice_. He could only guess that something had happened inside the darkness that brought him either through space and time or to some strange, alternate place. Whichever it was, he had to make his way back.

He had little time in which to plan, for a few minutes after he began to row, the waves grew larger. At first they merely made his boat rock, but soon water had begun to splash over the sides and he was forced to try to row between them. There was still no sign of shore, and he had no way of telling how far he had gone before the waves grew large enough to carry his dinghy on the swell. One caught the prow of the boat at just the right angle to tip it, sending him and his supplies over the edge and into the water.


	7. Home

Sunny had heard her siblings talk about home, but she didn't remember it. There were a few vague, dreamlike memories of a beach with waves lapping up onto the shore and a pair of people singing. The words of the song hadn't stuck in her memory, but she remembered voices, one high and breathy, the other low and steady. She knew she was too young to have any reliable memories, but she couldn't help feeling a bit left out when Violet and Klaus would talk about the Baudelaire mansion and how much they missed it. There wasn't any place she could really think of as home except maybe the island, but that seemed to belong more to Beatrice than anyone else. She had been born there, after all.

Maybe the TARDIS could be her home. It was fun, and the Doctor who didn't seem to be a real doctor was nicer than most of the other grown-ups she could remember (Violet was starting to look like a grown-up, she realized, and that thought confused her, because her sister wasn't a grown-up; she was Violet). He let her cook even though she was just a child, and the bed he had given her was like a little secret, since it could hide beneath Klaus's. The best part was that he talked to her like Violet and Klaus did, like she was a person and not just a baby.

She didn't much like being left alone, though, even if she wasn't completely alone. Beatrice was better company than none at all, and the two of them sat and played in the playroom for a long time before Sunny started to feel lonely.

The playroom was possibly the most fun room in the TARDIS, even more fun than the kitchen. The kitchen was useful, but it didn't have blocks with patterns that shifted from circles to words before her eyes or musical instruments perfectly sized for her and Sunny or dolls that lined the room and were so lovely that they scarcely seemed to be toys, although the Doctor had told them the day after they arrived that they could play with anything in that room. Beatrice was perfectly happy to play with the dolls and babble in her half-English, half-baby language, but Sunny liked to look at them. Most were human, or nearly so, but others were things she couldn't recognize, though she was sure they were something real.

There was no way of telling time within the room. Whenever they were hungry or thirsty, Sunny would find food and juice tucked into a little corner. When Beatrice started to fuss, Sunny set her down for a nap in a pile of large stuffed animals and fell asleep herself shortly after. When she woke, it was as though no time had passed at all, and she started to worry. Violet and Klaus wouldn't have forgotten her, would they? They wouldn't have just left them in the playroom forever.

She tried to play as she had before, but after a while Beatrice started to play on her own, and Sunny curled up against a large stuffed cat and cried quietly. She missed her family, and Beatrice wasn't enough to make up for that loneliness.

"Look!"

Sunny sat up and rubbed her eyes. Beatrice had tossed aside her dolls onto the abandoned block city and was hurrying to where she lay. "What is it?" she asked.

"There!" Beatrice pointed to the door. It had been closed before, but now it stood open just wide enough for Sunny to look out into the hall. "That?"

A shadow stood in the doorway, but it wasn't just a shadow. It had its own shape. "It's a kitty," Sunny said, realizing Beatrice had probably never seen a cat. She wasn't sure how many cats she had seen, only that she knew the shape and the name.

"Kitty?" Beatrice frowned, but then her eyes lit up and she toddled to the stuffed cat. "Kitty!"

Sunny nodded. "Both kitties," she said, getting to her feet. The shadow cat looked at her with dark eyes, and somehow she knew she was the one who was supposed to follow it. "Stay here."

"Yes." Beatrice went to the blocks and sat down. After a moment, she ran back to the stuffed animals, grabbed a frog half her size, and hauled it back. "Sunny going?"

"Not for long." She walked up to the door, but the cat slipped away before she could reach it. When she stepped into the hall, however, she found it watching her from the end, waiting for her to almost reach it again.

They moved that way through the twists and turns of the TARDIS, the cat leading and Sunny walking after it. She recognized a few rooms, but most were mysterious. It wasn't long before she was completely lost and couldn't have found her way back to the playroom if the cat had left her right then. She hoped Beatrice was still waiting for her. The baby would have even less chance of finding her way around than Sunny did.

"Kitty, wait," Sunny said. The cat had started to speed up, and she couldn't keep up with it. The food in the playroom was delicious, but it apparently wasn't good for running, since she was already getting tired.

The cat didn't listen to her, and sped up. She lost it around a corner, but when she hurried after it, she saw that it had led her to a room she had never seen before. It wasn't a terribly interesting room. Nothing was in it except for her, the cat, and a tall woman standing against the back wall. She had red hair with lots of curls and smiled when she saw Sunny. "Hello, little girl. Who are you?"

"Sunny," she said. She wasn't supposed to speak to strangers, but a stranger couldn't have gotten into the TARDIS.

"Sunny," the woman said as her smile grew wider. "That's a beautiful name. Sunny. Do you know how long it's been since I've seen the sun?"

She was a very odd woman. "No."

"Longer than I care to remember. Would you like to come with me and be a new sun?" The woman knelt and held out her hand.

Sunny backed up. Even if Violet, Klaus, and the Doctor had left her here, she couldn't just abandon Beatrice. "No. I have to watch Beatrice."

"Beatrice?" The woman frowned. "That's not as lovely a name. I would much rather have a Sunny." the woman rose. "I'm Jorja. Tell me who lives here."

"Violet. Klaus. Doctor."

Jorja's face lit up. "The Doctor? It's even better than I expected. It's about time I had a chance to get back at him. He took away the sun and left me in darkness. I'll take the sun from him. Let's see how he likes that."

There was no chance for Sunny to escape. The cat wound about her, catching her in darkness, and she was swept away into a world of shadows.

* * *

The City was home, but most of the time she was the only one who lived there. There were other people sometimes, but they were never real. Echoes, they called themselves, and memories, and holographic interfaces, and she knew all those things mean Not Real. She was real, because she needed food and sleep and changed through the years.

The City changed sometimes. Roads that went one way one day might lead another the next, and rooms would come and go. A few rooms stayed the same no matter what happened, but she didn't always know why. One particular kitchen never left, and so she learned to depend on that for food. Her bedroom would vanish and she would have to find a new one, but one room with bunk beds, a little hidden bed, and a cradle never left. The only room she and the City could seem to agree on was the playroom.

That was what she called it, anyway. It was a name dredged up from some long forgotten memory, and she knew why she had remembered that name but had to be told all the others by the Not Reals. It was her favorite room. There were little people in there, people with strange names like Human and Time Lord and Ood, and she called them people even though they couldn't move. There were blocks, too, that taught her how to read, and tiny pieces of music. When she felt lonely, she would curl up among a pile of large, still animals and fall asleep, imagining herself wrapped in an embrace.

The Not Reals didn't only tell her the names of rooms. They told her what foods were called and how they ought to be cooked. They told her how to speak so any other Reals could understand her. They even gave her a word that they insisted was her name, although she wasn't sure how much she believed them. It was a beautiful word, and familiar, but she didn't know if it could really belong to her.

Beatrice.

For the longest time, she had thought her name was just a word the Non Reals used to call her. She had thought it some sort of command, and it wasn't until one of them sat her down and explained names to her that she understood. Now she had strings of names running through her mind, and she could list off any number of the Not Reals' names at the slightest glimpse.

Donna, the red-haired one, who was sharp and funny and kind.

Leela, who taught her to fight and run.

Sarah Jane, who was clever and taught her to think.

There was one who had many faces but always the same name, and she didn't know how he could be possible. He was funny and serious and sad and the least real of all the Not Reals, and his name was Doctor.

Doctor was the one who knew the most about the City, which he called Tardis. Beatrice preferred to simply call it the City, since it was an easier name to remember, and it was the only City she had ever known. She knew others existed – they were mentioned in all the books in the library – but she had never seen them. She knew they had streets (though Doctor called Tardis's streets "halls") and houses and rooms. Her City even had a sky, though it was always gray and easier to reach than she had thought a sky would be.

Her favorite Doctor was the one with very little hair and a strange smile. He acted like a warrior, but there was a bright light inside him, like a candle that flared up into a star. There was something sad about him, as though he had memories he would rather forget, but at the same time he was so alive and eager. He told her she was fantastic, and sometimes she wished she could lie against him as she did the giant stuffed animals in the playroom.

She wished she could touch all the Not Reals.

"Beatrice?"

She looked up and saw Jack standing beside her. He looked more serious than normal, though that wouldn't be saying much. Most times she saw him he was smiling, and lately he had begun to wink at her in a most peculiar manner. Now, however, he looked almost somber, and she thought she saw fear in his eyes.

"What's wrong?" she asked, setting aside the book she had been poring over. It was about things called stars, and she wondered why her City didn't have any. Perhaps its sky was too close for any to fit in without burning up everything.

"I need your help."

No one had ever said that to her, and for several seconds she didn't know how to respond. She had always heard that people wanted to help her rather than otherwise. "With what?"

"The Tardis is failing."

The sentence didn't compute. Tardis couldn't be failing; it had been there for as long as she could remember and would be there for as long as she knew. "No. That can't be. Why are you saying that?"

"Because it's true. Beatrice, you must believe me. You're the only one who can save us."

"Because I'm Real."

Jack nodded, and she felt a terrible loneliness settle on her. She was the only Real in the City, and all her friends – her family – were made up of something else, of light and memory. "I'll tell you what you have to do. We might be able to fix more than just the Tardis."

He led her through streets and past familiar rooms until they reached the one place she never ventured. There was nothing there for her, she had thought, and what was there was a mystery. She thought of it only as the room, though sometimes she wondered if it were a temple or some sort of magical place. Today there was no time for hesitation. Jack led her to the pillar in the center, and she saw that its lights had begun to flicker and dim.

"What's happening to it?" she asked, setting her hands near some of the lights but not daring to touch them.

"It's been protecting you since you were just a baby. Seventeen years ago you were in danger of dying, so it devoted all its energy to keeping you alive and safe. Now it's running out of life."

"You talk like it's alive."

"It is." Jack smiled, and for a moment he looked like Doctor. "She is."

Beatrice thought about one of her dreams, of loneliness and a beautiful, creaking, groaning sound that came from all around her. Everything was so much larger in the dream, and the only person there was no one she had seen in the Not Reals. "Tell me what to do."

"There isn't much you can do. The Tardis needs to reach the vortex again to replenish her energy, but she won't go there on her own. You'll need to try to convince her."

"How?"

"There's another way," he continued, as though he hadn't heard her. "It will be dangerous, and it might not work, but you'd be a hero. Would you like that, Beatrice? You could save Sunny, and maybe even Violet and Klaus."

"Who?" She didn't recognize any of the names, and Jack looked rather disappointed to hear that.

"Your family. Don't you remember? I…" His voice didn't break off so much as it seemed to flicker, and he shook his head.

"Jack?" She reached out before remembering that she wouldn't be able to touch him. "What's happening?"

"It doesn't matter. Beatrice, I… I… I – I – am the TARDIS Holographic Interface. How may I be of service?" His voice was sharp and cold, and she didn't understand. She wanted Jack back, her Jack, and she wanted her City to be alive again, and she wanted to keep living the way she had for her whole life.

"Tardis? You're Tardis?"

"I am the TARDIS Holographic Interface."

Whatever had taken over Jack was some kind of representative of Tardis, then. She really was alive. "How can I fix you? Jack said I needed to bring you to the vortex."

"That cannot be done."

"Why not?"

"It would place you in danger. My directive is to protect you, Beatrice Baudelaire, and to reach the vortex would place you in danger."

"Won't I still be in danger if you die?"

The representative had no answer for that, and she clenched her hands into fists. There had to be something, anything that could be done. Leela had fought, but even if she hadn't, she would not simply lie down and wait for the end.

"Jack said there was another way," she said. "A way I could save Sunny. Who is Sunny?"

Jack was gone then, replaced by a child who looked strangely familiar.

"What about Violet?"

The child was replaced by a girl somewhat younger than Beatrice, dark hair tied back with a ribbon.

"And Klaus?"

The girl became a somewhat younger boy with glasses that shone in the dying light.

So this was her family. They didn't look a bit like her, but if she could help them, she was almost certainly bound to. "How can I save them?"

"You would need to create a paradox."

She had seen the word in her reading and knew it was something to be avoided, but she looked the representative of Tardis in the eyes and said, "I'm not afraid. Tell me what to do."

The boy was gone, then, but he had been replaced by Jack. He really was Jack this time, with his smile and the joy in his voice, though both were tinged by sadness. "I'm using up the last of the vortex energy to be this for you, Beatrice," he said. "Let's show the universe what a Baudelaire can do."

His voice was a babble, a clatter of words against each other, and the two of them flitted about the pillar, he directing and she twisting knobs and flicking switches. It was almost like a dance, accompanied by music that she was sure was the screaming of Tardis.

"Don't be afraid," Jack said when she hesitated. "It's the only thing you could do. The woman who took Sunny can reach into the vortex, and if we tried to go into it, she'd take you away." His hand brushed over hers, and she almost believed she could feel its touch. "I'd rather die with a flash than fade away slowly."

It was a flash, sharp and bright and painful. Time ripped through Beatrice's body, and she was flung away from the pillar. The railing caught her back, and she dropped to the floor. She could feel herself falling apart, bit by bit losing her reality. She tried to call out to Jack, but instead of a voice, only dark red blood came out. She gagged on the sharp taste and found she was too weak to push herself to even her elbows. All she could do was roll onto her side and watch the flickering lights.

"You did it." Jack's voice was distant, far above her, but she tried to hold on to each word. "You made a paradox." He knelt beside her, and it could have been the way everything was slipping and fading before her eyes, but he looked nearly Real. "Oh, my dear Beatrice."

"Did it work?" she whispered. Everything hurt, and she was afraid to look at her body. "Did I save them?"

"You did. You sent the Tardis back, and the Doctor will be able to find it again."

"Am I going to die?" She had never really thought about death before. She knew it was something that would happen in the end, but she had never feared it. Now… now she knew she would be leaving Tardis and the Not Reals alone. "Will you miss me?"

"I'll have never known you." He slipped a hand under her head and drew her up against him, seeming not to mind that her blood stained his dark coat. "I think we can escape though. The two of us, vanishing into the Tardis's thoughts. Maybe we can escape the paradox."

"I'd like that," she said.

"I'd like that, too."

As reality fell apart around them, Jack set his lips against hers.

* * *

She hadn't seen him for nearly four years, but she still remembered how he looked. He was tall and skinny, but not in the way Olaf had been. His hair was brown and went everywhere it seemed, and though he complained how it wasn't "ginger", she thought it a perfectly nice color. He had bright, kind eyes, and freckles, and wore brown suits with running shoes. He said "well" a lot, and "_allons-y_", and had a way of tasting her cooking that made her smile, because he would stick a spoon or a finger in his mouth and his own smile would spread across his face like honey spilled out of a jar. She couldn't believe she had nearly forgotten it all.

She couldn't believe how quickly it came back to her.

He knelt before her, looking no older than he had the day she met him, and for a moment she wondered if she had joined Jorja in madness. The woman had been talking to the air and laughing, and even though she had been staring off at the wall, she couldn't help noticing. She had gotten very good at noticing and remembering, and late at night she would lie awake and stare at her plain ceiling, counting off things she knew that Jorja didn't.

Her name was Sunny Baudelaire.

She had come from a world far away.

Her parents had died in a fire.

The list went on and on, and it made up a secret part of her that she never told anyone about. She sometimes wondered whether that other self was even real, for that Sunny Baudelaire seemed a separate entity. The Sunny she was now couldn't call herself Baudelaire, for Jorja insisted that she belonged to Raglan. She came from a ship that could travel through time and space, and it didn't matter how her parents had died or even if she had any parents. Jorja was her only family now, and her memories of Violet, Klaus, and Beatrice had grown hazy and faint. When she heard Jorja say their names, it felt as though an electric shock had shot down her spine.

When the Doctor knelt before her, she remembered everything.

She hadn't remembered him looking so sad, and she wanted to reach out and comfort him. If he wasn't real, though, and existed only in her mind, Jorja would think she had gone mad. A mad sun would be intolerable, and she might be cast out into the darkness. She had seen that darkness, and it terrified her beyond anything.

Then the Doctor touched her shoulder, and two things happened at once.

The Doctor's hand rested on her shirt. It was only for a moment, but she knew he was real and tried to call out to him or at least smile, but there wasn't enough time.

Time itself was sliding inside of her, and she could feel everything around her undoing. Her eyes slipped from the Doctor's brown eyes to a pair of blue eyes and a smile she didn't recognize. It was kind, and the man it belonged to seemed kind as well. He was dark-haired and wore a long dark gray coat. Beside him stood a young woman with light red hair and outstretched arms.

"There isn't much time, Sunny," the woman said. "You'll be gone in less than a second, but you can come with us. Jack's found a way we can hide inside the mind of Tardis, and we can live there. It'll be home."

Home. She was tempted to spring to her feet and run to them at once. "Who are you?"

"Jack Harkness," the man said with a smile.

"I'm Beatrice Baudelaire."

It was impossible. Beatrice would have been about four years old, and Jorja said she had died. "How?"

"We'll explain it better later," Beatrice said. "I think the way Tardis said it was… 'timey-wimey'?" When Jack nodded, she went on, "Time runs in strange ways, Sunny. I made a paradox that unmade both of our pasts from when you were taken from Tardis, and now you're fading away. If you hurry, we can escape into the vortex and live there."

There was not even the chance of hesitation. Sunny sprang to her feet and ran into Beatrice's arms. The woman swept her up from the ground, and then everything became golden light.

* * *

There was a house, and a garden, and a little gray cat that loved to get into Beatrice's strawberry patch. All of those mattered less than the fact that there was a family, and it would never fall apart.


	8. Endless Days

There was no way of telling how long it had been since she arrived in Raglan. The days could have become weeks and months, and Violet wouldn't have known. Everything seemed to shift and reform before her, and even when she closed her eyes colors and lights danced in her vision. Something was wrong, something was pulling at her skin, and she didn't understand what it was. She only knew that Jorja kept her inside a room made of light and spoke aloud to no one.

"Oh, we'll see how he likes this," she said, smiling and rubbing her hands together. "Thinks he can trap me in darkness, does he, well, I've got his lovely locked up in the light. She'll take it all inside her and shine in the sky for me."

"I don't understand," Violet said, but Jorja never responded except with a glare.

The water she drank was made of color, but at least it tasted like water.

Sometimes she felt better than others. Her eyes would open and she would be able to see clearly, and then she would realize that she was locked in a house with no doors or windows. Her clothes were so white they reflected the glow that came from everything, and her skin grew paler and paler each time she saw it. Even the moles and freckles on her hands faded, and she wondered how ill she must look, but there were no mirrors. Her ribbon had gone, and now her hair fell about her face and got into her eyes and brushed over her neck.

"Tell me about the Doctor," Jorja said during one of the lucid times.

"What do you want to know?" Violet asked. The woman had helped her, had trapped her, had helped her, and she didn't know how truthfully she ought to answer.

"Everything you know." Jorja smiled and patted Violet's knee. She hadn't grown any paler. If anything, she looked more vibrant than before. "Can I tell you something, Violet? Something I've never told anyone before?"

"I suppose."

"I saw the Doctor twice, but I haven't seen him yet."

Violet knew time travel would be confusing, but that seemed impossible. "I don't understand."

"I'm a paradox, Violet. Let me tell you a story.

"Once upon a time, there was a beautiful city called Raglan. It shone with every color possible, some even you can't imagine. In that city lived a girl named Jorja. For most of her life, Jorja was just like everyone else. She played in the streets and wore lovely butterfly clothes and grew up and studied well and became a chemist. She had a few lovers but never married. There would be time for that later, she thought. She was wrong.

"That was when the Doctor came.

"He came in a great blue box, spinning out of the sun, and before it had even touched the ground he had stepped out. He looked like rage itself and called himself the Oncoming Storm. Someone had made him angry, and so he brought darkness down on Raglan. It descended on the girl's city, and she had to watch everything she had lost until it was gone from her sight. He sent her into the darkness, saying he had done it for Violet and Klaus and Sunny and Beatrice.

"The girl wandered for ages until she found a little spring, but it wasn't water that came out. It was light, golden light that washed over her, and she basked in it. It was the vortex of space and time, but she didn't know that. She didn't know that she had pulled herself out of the bounds of time by touching it, or by building a house made of light. The light told her everything that happened in the darkness, so when the Doctor arrived, she was able to strike. She found his blue box and went inside and stole a child. The girl was Sunny, and she would become a sun. But the Doctor came and took Sunny away with a touch, leaving her alone again.

"You don't know what it's like to touch vortex energy, Violet. I do. I still needed my revenge, so I threw myself into the spring and stepped out on Eclipse Day, burning with the gold inside me. And who should I see but young, smiling Jorja Reyi? She thought she was so happy, so impervious, but I showed her. I showed her right."

"What did you do?" Violet whispered. Reality was slipping from her again, and she didn't know whether she was going mad or Jorja's story was simply so impossible.

"I killed her of course. Set my hands around her throat until she stopped moving. It was easier than I thought it would be. She barely fought at all. Well, then my house started glowing like it was made of light, and no one noticed. Suddenly it was Eclipse Day every day, and I had eternity to plan. I plotted what I would do when I found another one of those children. And then who should appear but a stranger named Violet? I brought the girl into my house and began stuffing her with light. When she's ready, I'll take her to the darkness and throw her into the sky. She'll burn forever and bring light to my Raglan again."

Jorja's eyes were distant, and her smile looked like a shark's. Violet trembled all over, and something within her throat tickled.

"But you have Raglan," she said. "Can't you just stay here?"

Jorja shook her head. "It's not just about that. If all I wanted was to have my old life back, I would. This is about revenge. The Doctor hurt me, and I want to hurt him as much as I can. The best way is through his friends."

Violet couldn't imagine the Doctor acting that way. She had heard him worried, but never angry, and it seemed nearly impossible that he would destroy a whole city – possibly a whole world – and not have any regrets. But then, Jorja had said the Doctor had done it for the four of them, and perhaps losing them was enough for him to become furious.

The four of them… Jorja had taken Sunny. Sunny had vanished. Sunny was gone. Violet buried her face in her hands but couldn't bring herself to cry. There were no tears in her body. "Klaus?"

"The vortex told me what to do with him. It told me what he feared. There had been a storm, a ship and a storm, so I found a way to send him there. He won't find you there, nor either of the girls. It will only be him and the ocean."

She couldn't breathe. The tickle in her throat had grown to an itch, and it was all she could do to ask, "Beatrice?"

"I couldn't find her. That box must have hidden her from me. Ah, well. She can't live forever in it. Someday she'll have to step out, and then I'll find her."

"How…" She choked on something and had to pause a moment before she could go on. "How did you do all of this? It's impossible."

"For you, I suppose. For anyone else, in fact, yes. But I have gone back and murdered myself so many times so that I can act at will and still my actions remain untouched. I have been touched by the vortex, and I can bend space and time to my will. The universe moves at my command… but I'm growing overdramatic." Jorja had risen and begun to pace but now she returned to Violet and set a cool hand against the girl's cheek. Violet tried to flinch away, but the sudden movement made her dizzy. "Perhaps you need water. Wait here a while."

_A while _proved to be mere seconds, or so it seemed, as Jorja had scarcely left the room before she returned with a glass full of shimmering liquid. "No," Violet said, or rather tried to say, for her throat was so dry she could barely croak. Something was lodged there, but she didn't want to cough it out, fearing it might be one of her lungs.

"Drink," Jorja said, setting the glass between Violet's hands. "Drink, and all will be well."

The first sip was sweet and cool and flowed easily into Violet's body. The second, however, lodged against whatever was caught inside her, and the others simply piled up behind it, trying to trickle past but unable to move. The glass slipped from her fingers and fell, shattering, and she imagined that she would drop glasses until the floor was nothing but shards that would slice open her feet and scatter the light.

When she coughed, water and light flew from her mouth.

Jorja laughed and clapped her hands. "It's working," she cried. "You'll shed light for me and light my world again. Open the window, Violet! It's time."

The window hadn't been there before, Violet was sure, nor had the darkness it looked out on. She got to her feet and was mildly surprised that she was able to, since her body felt as though anything beneath her knees didn't exist. Walking felt more like gliding, and perhaps it was. The feeling of unreality spread up her body with each step until she wondered whether she existed at all or had become some sort of being made solely of light. When she lifted her hand to open the window, she saw that it glowed like the lamps the Doctor had given them.

Perhaps this was all some strange dream and she would wake soon.

She coughed again. There had been no water in her throat, so only sparks of light flew out, glimmering and dancing until they vanished into the light of the room. Her hand against the windowpane was light against dark, heat against cold, and her thoughts were so foreign that when she thought she saw the Doctor looking in at her it didn't come as a surprise.

Then time raced into her body, and she screamed.

"No!" Jorja shrieked behind her. "Not again! He won't take another! Doctor! Don't you dare!"

Everything was falling apart, and yet she couldn't fall apart, for the light pulled and pushed her back together. She screamed again, and somehow the floor had found her, and all the light was rushing away across the many shards of broken glass. She wasn't bleeding for she felt no pain, but rivulets of light spilled over her skin and soaked through her clothes. Each cough, each breath brought forth more light, and it seemed there was no end to it.

"Paradox! It's a paradox!" Jorja screamed. "Two paradoxes in one… no wonder you can't escape. That was how he took Sunny, but I hadn't warped time enough. This time it will work. This time I'll keep you."

"A paradox?" Violet wasn't sure how she was able to speak, let alone think, but little bits of lucidity floated into her mind like the shadows of leaves. "I don't understand." She knew what a paradox was, but she didn't know how it could affect her right now aside from Jorja's.

"You don't have to," Jorja snapped. "It doesn't matter. I'll just have to… no! No, what are you doing?"

The window had opened, and darkness poured in, but at the same time there was no window, just as there was no man standing above her, kneeling beside her and setting his hand on her head, opening his mouth as though to say her name. Rage and sorrow were mixed in his eyes, and she wanted to call out to him _Doctor_, but the colors were too strong and shone before her eyes until all was white.

Then there was nothing.


End file.
